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Schools in the Triwizard Tournament

Something I have noticed a lot in Triwizard fics is that whenever Hogwarts is involved, no matter what the year, the three schools competeing are always Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. Does this mean only these three schools ever compete against one another. It is reasonable to assume that other schools in Europe take part in the Tournament, as we see in HPB, the Tournament is getting ready to take place at another school?

So what are you thoughts? Does Hogwarts always compete against its set rivals, or could it be possible that in other years, other schools would compete against them?

Rowling is not noted for the depth of her wizarding universe; in particular, she obviously gave little thought to logistics. She at one point said that Hogwarts had around a thousand students, which does not work mathematically at all, but on the other hand, with a much smaller number, we're left with (a) a ridiculously tiny British wizarding population, (b) other British wizarding schools that just never once get mentioned in seven books, or (c) an awful lot of British wizards who never went to Hogwarts, despite the implication throughout all seven books that practically everyone does.

None of those explanations really work, do they?

So, turning to foreign wizarding schools -- I think Rowling made up Beauxbatons and Durmstrang when she needed two more schools, and then figured that was it for European wizarding schools, since that's all she needed for her story. Are there more than three wizarding schools in all of Europe? Well, you'd think so, but then, you'd think they might have been mentioned, especially during GoF.

Short answer to your question: yes, I think Rowling assumed that the Triwizard Tournament is always between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang, because I think she didn't give a thought to other European wizarding schools.

But she didn't specifically say there aren't any other schools, or that the Triwizard Tournament never includes other schools. So you can always make up more schools and say the Tournament sometimes doesn't occur between the same three. On the other hand, it may be that the Triwizard Tournament is specifically a Hogwarts-Beauxbatons-Durmstrang tradition; perhaps other schools, if they exist, are simply not large or prestigious enough to be invited.

I agree with Inverarity. There is nothing to say that there are no other European wizarding school, and there's no evidence that they don't hold the tournament.

Maybe the schools are grouped into threes for the tournament? So Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang have the tournament together, alternating the location between schools. And then three other schools - and not just European - have a tournament that works in a similar way to the one Hogwarts has.

On the other hand, it may be that the Triwizard Tournament is specifically a Hogwarts-Beauxbatons-Durmstrang tradition; perhaps other schools, if they exist, are simply not large or prestigious enough to be invited.

I think it says in Gof somewhere that it is always those three schools taking part in the Tournament. Anyway I belive that Inverarity is right. There are definatly more wizard schools in Europe as these three could never house all wizard children. But Hogwarts, Beauxesbatons, and Durmstrang are simply the biggest and most powerful. Going to a very prestigious school myself I know we have a lot of traditions and especially competitions involing other schools. These traditions always occures with the same schools year after year and has done so for several generations. For example we have this movie competition where we compete against another school, making the best movie. Always the same school. That doesn't mean there aren't any other schools :P I think it's most likly that other schools have their own competitions though, a school quidditch cup would be intresting and rather likly I think. [/RANT]

I agree with Johan - while there would have to be other schools in Europe, the Triwizard Tournament is a competition traditionally held between the three biggest and best, ie. Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. You could get away with saying that Jo never specifically stated it was always those three... however, you could also get quite creative with making your own competitions between schools. An interschool Quidditch comp would be perfectly believeable, or how about a Potions or Charms challenge or something like that? In Muggle schools, we have sports events, debates, spelling bees, maths/science comps - so there's plenty of room for wizards to compete against each other too!